So, obviously, a beginner wants to start with a hardy plant, and I guess a cheap one, and one suited for the conditions the houseplant will be living in, and one they like the look of. But my intention with this hobby is to become more connected with my environment, not to exploit it in the way most convenient for me. I want to understand: what is a good, or minimally harmful, houseplant? Are the ecological footprints very different between different houseplants? I’ve been told that if you live above a certain floor on an apartment planting natives isn’t important since pollinators don’t get up to your level anyway–is that accurate? Do people ever uhhh…just like scoop up plants growing around them and just pot them and grow them at home? Are all plants that would thrive as houseplants commercially available or is what’s commercially available mostly influenced by other factors like subjective/cultural aesthetic value & hardiness under transport conditions & stuff like that?
My gardening is I just shove any interesting seeds I get into some soils and see what’s up. So far I’ve grown so many apples (but not many get past sapling stage…), pomegranates, passionfruit, peppers (accidentally killed over winter because I planted end of autumn. Thought that would happen but still), tomatoes, avocados. Mostly germinated on my windowsill in the UK, other than avocados which are weird.
Other options are cacti. Just cut a piece off and plant it and it’ll probably grow, that’s been my experience. Some inside and some in a greenhouse. Some are very picky but most are easy to grow and care for. Plus they often have beautiful but short-lived flowers, which makes then even more special when they’re in bloom (sometimes the flower literally lasts one night and you feel so lucky to see it)